Escapist no. 1 — Obsidian Sculpture

Martin Stranka is a self-taught professional photographer based in Prague. A native of the Czechia, Martin was born on April 13, 1984. Martin was a bored student plodding through courses in business school when the unexpected loss of a close friend led him to pursue photography as a form of therapy. That hobby turned into a passion and, eventually, a profession. His distinctive vision of the medium occupies a unique space of balance and serenity, with rich, complex imagery that seems to capture the fleeting moments between dreams and awakenings. Martin’s pieces are reminiscent of stills from a film that walks the line between fantasy and reality. He explores our fascination with the incomplete narrative. In his words: “In these deliberately unfinished visual stories, I’m searching for the boundary between aesthetic appeal and a dramatic scene.” In recent years, Martin has won over 80 major international photography awards from various competitions, including the International Photography Awards™ held in New York at Carnegie Hall, where he was named Special Photographer of the Year in 2022. He’s also received awards from the Sony World Photography Awards (1st place, Open Creative category and National Award 2018 and 2019), the Annual Photography Awards (Photographer of the Year, 2021) and Prix de la Photographie Paris (Gold Award). Martin's work has been exhibited and auctioned by leading auction house Christie's in London and Amsterdam, and his solo and group exhibitions have been hosted in North and South America, throughout Europe, and as far as Asia. His photographs have been exhibited in cities around the world: New York, Basel, Tokyo, London, Miami, Paris, Prague, Hong Kong, Kiev. The galleries where Martin’s work has been presented include Christie's London (UK), Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum (SK), Mánes Exhibition Hall (CZ), Saatchi Gallery (US), SNAP! Orlando (US) and many others. Martin's dreamlike, transportive photography has been commissioned by cultural institutions such as the National Theatre in Prague and the Czech National Ballet. Dozens of his images have also been used by New York publishers for the covers of mystery and thriller novels — genres Martin believes his work is perfectly suited to.